The Buzz – Lance Armstrong Says Doping Allegations are Nonsense
Thanks to doping allegations, Lance Armstrong has two options: get banned from cycling forever and lose his titles, or face arbitration.

Lance Armstrong is finished with fighting against the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency after a years-long fight over whether or not he used illegal performance enhancement drugs to win his seven Tour de France titles.

“There comes a point in every man’s life when he has to say, ‘Enough is enough,'” Armstrong wrote in a Thursday night statement on his website. “For me, that time is now. I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999. Over the past three years, I have been subjected to a two-year federal criminal investigation followed by Travis Tygart’s unconstitutional witch hunt. The toll this has taken on my family, and my work for our foundation and on me leads me to where I am today — finished with this nonsense.”

“Today I turn the page. I will no longer address this issue, regardless of the circumstances. I will commit myself to the work I began before ever winning a single Tour de France title: serving people and families affected by cancer, especially those in underserved communities,” he continued, adding that his Livestrong Foundation will celebrate $500 million dollars raised in October.

“…I have a responsibility to all those who have stepped forward to devote their time and energy to the cancer cause. I will not stop fighting for that mission. Going forward, I am going to devote myself to raising my five beautiful (and energetic) kids, fighting cancer, and attempting to be the fittest 40-year old on the planet.”

As for losing the titles? Armstrong said it doesn’t really matter.

“I know who won those seven Tours, my teammates know who won those seven Tours, and everyone I competed against knows who won those seven Tours. We all raced together,” he wrote. “For three weeks over the same roads, the same mountains, and against all the weather and elements that we had to confront. There were no shortcuts, there was no special treatment. The same courses, the same rules. The toughest event in the world where the strongest man wins. Nobody can ever change that. Especially not Travis Tygart.”